Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins' Auschwitz video draws criticism

A video U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre, recorded in part from inside the Nazis' Auschwitz concentration camp last week has drawn criticism on social media for what commenters described as its disrespectful and self-serving content.

The video includes Higgins recording from inside one of the former gas chambers -- an action that drew criticism from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.

Higgins, a former law enforcement officer who serves on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, recorded the five-minute video, which was posted Saturday (July 1) to the YouTube channel of Lee Johnson Media, "A Conservative Podcast looking at America of Today!"

"A great sense of dread comes over you in this place," Higgins says in the clip, adding: "Man's inhumanity to man can be quite shocking."

Soon after it was republished on NOLA.com on Tuesday, the Twitter account of the Auschwitz Memorial took issue with Higgins' decision to film himself at the site. "Everyone has the right to personal reflections," the museum's account wrote in a Tweet. "However, inside a former gas chamber, there should be mournful silence. It's not a stage."

Everyone has the right to personal reflections. However, inside a former gas chamber, there should be mournful silence. It's not a stage. https://t.co/AN5aA1bYEU

In the comment thread that followed, the museum posted a photo of the entrance to the gas chambers. "You are in a building where the SS murdered thousands of people," a stone engraving reads. "Please maintain silence here: remember their suffering and show respect for their memory."

A spokesman for Higgins did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

In his video, Higgins speaks inside the chamber describing how the Nazis gassed hundreds of thousands of people, then burned their bodies in ovens Higgins shows in the video.

"The world's a smaller place now than it was in World War II," the congressman says in another scene in the video. "The United States is more accessible to terror like this, horror like this."

He continued: "It's hard to walk away from the gas chambers and ovens without a very sober feeling of commitment -- unwavering commitment -- to make damn sure that the United States of America is protected from the evils of the world."

Commenters on Twitter levied a host of critiques against Higgins, accusing him of "posturing" and "exploiting the deaths of millions" for political gain.

"I apologize for this American," Twitter user Susan Kohn wrote in a message in reply to the Museum. "He's an embarrassment to us. Most of us know better than to behave like this on sacred ground."

I apologize for this American. He's an embarrassment to us. Most of us know better than to behave like this on sacred ground.